Barack Obama's grandmother dies on eve of election

Barack Obama's date with destiny was laced with tragedy when the grandmother who raised him died on the eve of the election.

Mr Obama raced to see Madelyn Dunham, 85, just over a week ago when it became clear that she was losing her battle with cancer.

But the hopes of the Obama family that Mrs Dunham might live to see her grandson become America's first black president were cruelly dashed just a few hours before polls opened across the US.

Mrs Dunham passed away at her home in Hawaii in the small hours of yesterday morning. Mr Obama was informed when he awoke and then continued with his scheduled campaign events.

Mr Obama announced the news in late afternoon in a joint statement with his sister Maya Soetoro-Ng. "She was the cornerstone of our family, and a woman of extraordinary accomplishment, strength, and humility.

She was the person who encouraged and allowed us to take chances." Mrs Dunham and her late husband helped raise Mr Obama from the age of 10 while his mother was working in Indonesia.

When he made his mercy dash to Hawaii, Mr Obama revealed that he was motivated to see her once more because her condition had deteriorated quite dramatically. His mother, who also succumbed to cancer in 1995, died before he had chance to see her one last time.

During his mercy dash, Mrs Dunham apparently told her grandson that he should go and "do what you need to do".

In a subsequent interview, he said: "She's gravely ill. We weren't sure and I'm still not sure whether she makes it to Election Day. We're all praying and we hope she does, but one of the things I want to make sure of is I had a chance to sit down with her and to talk to her."

"She put off a lot of things in her own life to make sure myself and my sister, that we were taken care of. A big chunk of whatever success I have achieved is because of her. I love her dearly."